Former President of the United States Jimmy Carter turns 100 on October 1.

The 39th president will celebrate the centennial at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he was born in 1924. He is currently in hospice concern.

Carter’s small southern town looks a lot like it did when he was a boy. But America, and the world in general, has seen great changes over its long life.

Changes everywhere, but not in Plains

The U.S. population is nearly three times what it was in 1924. America grew from about 114 million people to about 330 million today. The world population grew even faster in the same period, from 1.9 billion to more than 8.1 billion.

However, that large increase has not reached Plains, Georgia. The town that had 500 residents in the 1920s now has almost 600 residents. Much of the local economy revolves around Carter, its most famous son.

Red state, blue state

Jimmy Carter first ran for president in 1976 against then-President Gerald Ford. That election marked the first time television network NBC began using a red-blue election map to display election results.

The colors have since become a permanent part of American political language. The color blue represents the Democratic Party and red represents the Republican Party.

Shopping

In 1924, there was no Amazon to order goods online. But Americans could order a self-build house from a Sears catalog for $2,025. That amount was slightly lower than the annual income of the average employee.

There was none superstore like Walmart. But people could buy bread, milk and other things in small, local shops.

Prohibition, the ban on making and drinking alcohol, had already been national law for four years when Carter was born. He was nine when it ended.

The former president and his late wife Rosalynn were not known as big drinkers. Mostly they served wine as the only type of alcoholic beverage at White House state dinners, mainly to save money. Other types of alcohol would increase the cost of the events.

But Carter’s brother Billy was known for his beer drinking. When Carter became president, Billy sold his name to a beer manufacturer to produce Billy Beer. News sources reported that Billy Carter received an annual payment of $50,000 from one brewer for the use of his name. That would be about $215,000 in today’s economy.

Voting rights

The 19th Amendment, which extended voting rights to women, became law in 1920, four years before Carter’s birth. And in 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed, expanding voting rights to black Americans.

Now Carter will vote by mail for Vice President Kamala Harris, says his grandson Jason Carter. He added that his grandfather is excited about the chance to see Harris make history.

If elected, Harris would become the first woman and first person of South Asian descent to lead the United States.

Immigration and isolationism

Jimmy Carter was born during a period of isolationismprotectionism and white Christian nationalism in the US

In 1922, Congress imposed taxes on imports, called tariffs, to help American manufacturers. After stock market losses in 1929, lawmakers imposed more tariffs to help farmers.

Five months before Carter was born, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924. The act created the U.S. Border Patrol and sharply limited immigration, mainly allowing only Western Europeans into the country. Asians were completely excluded from the country.

Congress said the law was intended to “protect the ideal of the US homogeneity.” The militant white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan held large marches in Washington in 1925 and 1926 to rally support.

A century later, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump promises to order the largest deportation effort in American history if he becomes president.

Trump is also calling for tariffs on all goods coming to America.

Other presidents

Carter has lived through 40 percent of American history since the Declaration of Independence in 1776. When Carter took office, only one president, John Adams, had lived to be 90 years old. Since then, Ford, Ronald Reagan, Carter and George HW Bush have all achieved it. minimum 93.

I’m Caty Weaver.

Bill Barrow reported this story for The Associated Press. Hai Do has adapted the story for English learning.

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Words in this story

hospice – N. a place where care is provided to people who are dying

catalog – N. a book with a list of things you can buy

wine – N. an alcoholic drink made from grape juice

excited – adj. enthusiastic and eager

isolationism – N. a belief that the country should not be involved with other countries

protect – v. to keep something in its original state

ideal – N. the idea or standard of excellence

homogeneity – N. consist of the same kind of people

deportation – N. forced removal of non-citizens to leave a country